UP Minister Denies Plans To Remove Chapters on Mughal History From Syllabus

NCERT had changed the syllabi of Classes 6 through 12 in a rationalisation process last year.

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Gulab Devi, Uttar Pradesh's minister of state for secondary education, dismissed reports that selected chapters on the Mughal Empire will be left out of the history syllabus for students in the state.

Driving the news: The course material for Classes 10-12 will be revised by the Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UPMSP) in line with the changes to the NCERT curriculum, according to a report by India Today.

• The updated UP Board syllabus for 2023-24 can soon be downloaded from the official website, the report said

• The revised textbooks are also reportedly ready for purchase

"We are implementing the NCERT syllabus. Every year, the NCERT realigns some chapters and the Mughal history is very much there and will continue to be. It is not removed at all," a senior official in UP's education department told The Quint.

Last year, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) made changes in the syllabi of classes 6 through 12 as part of its 'rationalisation process'.

Yes, but: A few historians and educators questioned the NCERT's move, even claiming that the changes were made because they are "convenient for the ruling party."

Out of syllabus: Specifically, the NCERT's 'rationalisation' efforts involved:

• Omitting references to the 2002 Gujarat riots from Class 12 textbooks

• Removing a 30-page chapter titled 'Kings and Chronicles; the Mughal Courts (C. 16th and 17th centuries)' from Class 12 textbooks

• Dropping chapters named 'Central Islamic Lands', 'Clash of Cultures', and 'Industrial Revolution' from Class 11 textbooks

• Scrapping topics under civics such as 'Democracy and Diversity', 'Popular Struggles and Movements', and 'Challenges of Democracy' from Class 10 textbooks

• Excluding a chapter on 'Mughal Emperors: Major campaigns and events' from Class 7 textbooks

• Eliminating a few poems and paragraphs from Hindi textbooks